Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful, quiet little Halloween here. Kea is really enjoying reading the Cat Warriors series right now, and that definitely influenced our celebrations this Oct. 31st! The kids were invited to a Halloween party down the street at a neighbour's house, where they decorated crafts and cookies and filled up on cheese pizza and then we all went trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood. It was a nice, warm evening and the almost full moon crept in and out of the clouds the whole time - and the kids came home with a large stash of coffee crisps for the pumpkin faerie:-) Life is good!

New wheels.....

So, after living out here in Ottawa for about 5 months we have succumbed to becoming a two-car family. After years of having no car at all in Vancouver, it was quite a difficult decision for us, but after numerous horrendous bus journeys tripling our time to work and classes, and realizing that we haven't even hit the snow and slush yet, we cried uncle!

And I have to admit, the seat warmers tipped the scales for me, and is helping to appease any guilt I may have been holding onto!!!!!!!!!

We ended up getting a 2004 Volkswagen Golf, another diesel so eventually we can convert to veggie oil, and also a manual - I refused to go manual in the right-hand drive as that was too much of a mind-bend for me, so now we have a bit of both! The only real issue is that when we're trading vehicles back and forth, we find we're constantly cleaning the windows when we go to signal turns!!!!!!!!

I took a quick photo of the car tonight, but could only find the 50 fixed lense which didn't fit the entire car in the photo. But I'm sure you get the idea! It's our boring, sporty, city car - to go with the silver purse and silver heels, ya know!!!!! And the grave headstones on the right of the photo are Halloween props:-)

Quiet days.....

We're definitely settling into fall around here, hosting many small brunches with pumpkin waffles and fresh juice from our fancy new juicer! We're trying to get outside as much as possible, enjoying the woods across the street, collecting leaves, making new wands, expanding our local bird knowledge, etc. A new neighbour invited us over for pizza and beer the other night - the kids had a blast playing spies together, and we heard about all the great things about this neighbourhood. Mud Lake freezes up over the winter, so we can go skating on it, and skiing around on the trails. And then in the spring, there's turtles and snakes and frogs and all sorts of wildlife - can't wait to be able to explore that! But first off, stocking up on really warm boots and underlayers so that we're fully able to enjoy the winter that is to come!

Kea's sick right now, with a sore throat and cough, so we're pulling out all of our herbs, our eucalyptus baths, our oil of oregano back rubs and garlic oil foot rubs, hot ginger and lemon tea - and most of all, really slowing our pace down to allow her to get over this flu. We're anticipating a winter full of illness this year, primarily because we're in such a new environment with whole new bugs to get to know, but I'm hopeful it won't be too bad!!!!!!!!! If anyone has classic remedies for winter flus, please feel free to pass them along, I'm always game to try something new!

View from the ground up
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

We drove out to our property again this weekend, in order to create a bit of a path to park on (which will eventually become the driveway) and also to measure out where we want to build the base for the yurt. I posted a few more photos on flickr (which you can access by clicking on this photo) so you can get a glimpse of what it looks like in the fall. I have to admit, each time we go out there, I fall even more in love with this land and can't wait to actually be living on it!!!!!!

Hansel and Gretel

So, we threw Tiegan a really fun Hansel and Gretel party for her sixth birthday - perfect for our little sugar junkie!!!!!! We created our kitchen space to look like a poor cottage, with wool blankets on the windows and a bare table with a bed in the corner. I read a great version of the story that we love, for all of the kids who were perhaps not as familiar with the story, and then Jamie elaborated on the story to mention all of the rumours that we'd been hearing since we'd moved in- about how the woods across the street were the ACTUAL woods in the story! So then off they went in search for the candy house - and along the way, Jamie went over various bits of hiking safety, and what to do to prevent getting lost:-) Upon their return to the house, they found the candy house, a total surprise to our kids even - check out Tiegan's reaction when she first sees it!!!!!!! Then they played on the brick courtyard, where there's a great wood oven, we had chicken bones and a little cage and a few adults willing to play the role of witch! Very fun - and sugar filled!!!!!!!!

Fall has arrived in full force around here, and we're thoroughly enjoying the cooler, crisp air and colourful landscapes! It's also a time of setting up our home, creating new routines, enjoying the harvest of autumn and eating lots of soups, stews and baked goods! One of my favourite snacks to bake at this time of year is ginger cake - topped with warm pear sauce and hot almond tea after a full afternoon of raking leaves is heavenly!

Ginger Cake (I no longer remember where I got this recipe from, I've had it in my journal for years now.....)

3 cups flour
1 Tbl cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil (if I have it, I use extra light olive oil, otherwise I use applesauce)
1 cup molasses
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
2 Tbl minced fresh ginger


1/2 cup crystalized ginger, chopped into tiny pieces

Grease and flour 10-inch bundt pan.

Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.

In another bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients except crystalized ginger. Stir in flour mixture to wet, 1/3 at a time. After it is all well mixed together, add crystalized ginger.

Pour batter into cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.

YUM! Not so bad with a little vanilla ice cream as well!!!!!!

Thanksgiving weekend, part 2

We also enjoyed a lovely dinner with Sean, Chloe and their crew - baby Elsie is already 6 months old and growing up so quickly! Check out the adorable hat her mother, the knitter extraordinaire, whipped up for the cooler weather!!!!!! Of course, we had to take them all out to our favourite spots in Mud Lake, and show them how to feed 'our' chickadees. All the kids started out with their own containers of bird food, Ryland threw all of his in the duck pond right away and tried to scavenge more from the others, Kea diligently and evenly spread hers out to feed birds wherever we went, and Tiegan hung on to most of hers to bring back for next time!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a few photos of our Thanksgiving weekend - none of us can get enough of cuddling our newest nephew, he's so new and sweet and unable to move away from us all!!! Ryland sits so still for quite a while, with the hugest smile on his face when it's his turn to hold Keane - and then his mom grabs the baby to get her own cuddles with him! I tell you, this is going to be one spoiled little kidlet!!!!!!

We enjoyed a nice turkey dinner at Heather's house, and took family photos in front of the sumac hedges - the colours in Ottawa are amazing right now, and we're trying to enjoy them to the fullest before the snows arrive. We've even seen a few snow flakes in the air already, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

A trip to the property

And here's a few shots of our new property on a very wet, chilly day. We drove out on Friday in order to measure out the frontage, figure out where we want to create a driveway, and to mark various boundaries with bright orange tape so we can visualize it a little better. The kids also wanted to tag 'their' maple trees, as they are VERY excited at the prospect of tapping their own maple syrup next year!!!! We walked all over the property and found many little areas that we love - can't wait to start building on there!!!! Next step, clear a road and build a base for our new yurt, which we want to set up before winter arrives.

Our new neighbourhood.....

Here's a few photos from our new neighbourhood. The first one is the house we're renting - it used to be a summer cottage, and has a huge yard with a great swing in it. It's a very sweet house, though definitely a bit drafty and chilly!
We're down the street from the Britannia Yacht Club, really close to the Ottawa River, 3 blocks from the bike path and miles of park lands including numerous playgrounds. Best of all, though, is that directly across the street is an entrance to Mud Lake, our favourite spot by far. There's tonnes of trails, great plant and animal life and we tend to head in there at least once a day to feed the birds and check out all of the changes. We're already in love with this neighbourhood, and will enjoy being here for the next 10 months!